The Lowdown – Airdrie’s Angel(s)

Community. By definition a community is a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. Source Dictionary.com

It’s funny what brings us together in life. What makes some people click and others not? What curiousness draws people to conversation? How is it that some connect and others repel? We’ve all been there, that moment when you have a single conversation and you immediately feel like the person you’re speaking with is someone you’ve known your whole life; I’ve read that some say it’s tied to soul groups, those you once knew long before this journey. Or perhaps it’s as simple as DNA. Apparently, 1 in 216 people are direct descendants of Genghis Khan which by rough calculation of Airdrie’s population of about 65000 people, 1 in 300 of us are potentially related and we don’t know it. That makes for curious connectivity and is a far deeper rabbit hole of thought for my 800 plus words here but I think it drives the point that you never really know who you’re sitting next to.

This week’s Lowdown was a collaborative conversation with real estate champion Matthew Carre and Michelle Carre who drives her Delicious Life initiatives through her online course and public speaking. Community leaders in each of their own rights there is one initiative however that they’ve poured their souls into since 2013. Back When Matthew first came to Calgary, he was inspired by Gerry Forbes Secret Wish, Matthew found himself in tears while driving down 16th Ave listening to Forbes speak about the people his project was helping. Fast forward to 2013, Matthew and Michelle found themselves in a place where they were ready to take their commitment to our community to new places and Airdrie Angel was born. When I asked why Angel isn’t plural Matthew replied, “because the Angel is the nominator”.

Essentially the Angel charity provides assistance to those who’ve had a life changing event. They’re a non-profit and both Michelle and Matthew handle the administration of the charity themselves. Operations like this are significant undertakings and when you consider they’re heading for a seventh year with over 177 different companies and people who’ve stepped up with donation to the charity you can certainly appreciate this has assisted 85 family’s totalling over 168,000 in cash and gifts.

I really connected with both Michelle and Matthew during our interview as their drive is far deeper and genuine then you might think. Family’s like this make massive cultural impacts and our community is lucky to have them. These two are not only driving a cultural significance with their philanthropic philosophy, they’re teaching their children what it means to be community leaders while inspiring the rest of us to come along for the ride. To me it’s really no wonder that real estate is a part of their day to day lives. I learned long ago that anyone can sell a house, a great realtor sells homes and both Matthew and Michelle combine to not only sell homes, they’re promoting the incredible community they cherish so much.

The Airdrie Angel has a marquee event every June before Fathers Day with their Daddy Daughter hair day which was inspired by a Montreal based barber who taught dads how to care for their daughter’s hair. “We loved the idea, it’s not about dads doing hair as much as its about dads simply spending important time with their little girls”. Michelle Carre.

A few years back, Michelle’s dad even attended which while she told me, I could see and feel the change in her which showed me the impact it had directly on her. Every year the event gets better and better. Moms and sons are also participating. They work with businesses and partners to provide the different resources required to make something like this a reality. An example of this is their upcoming Airdrie Angel Lift Day, this Friday at Good Earth Coffee from 8AM to 11AM proceeds from beverages go to supporting the charity! When you hit a wall in life, that’s when the angels appear so be sure to grab your morning coffee on your way to your day and help support the Airdrie Angel help the next family in need. There is also the opportunity to have totes delivered for the cost of the beverage and a $10 donation!

Community doesn’t always mean the entire city, it can mean the next conversation you have with a stranger at a coffee house. Community is all things and if you’re positive to your city your building good community. When we hear that our neighbor has fallen its old school community when people put their efforts into one basket and make sure that those in sudden need know that regardless of whether they knew who pitched into this solution, this city had their back.

“At some point we all need our community and you might not think you need that today but know that when that day comes Airdrie will be there to pick you up because that’s what we’ve always done. That’s what Airdrie does.” Michelle Carre.

Everything these two do is about connecting people and community. That’s what makes their Riding in Cars with Carres so great! They were on their way to an event when Riding with Carres came to life by accident when they were doing a video and a friend commented, “you’re riding in cars with Carres” and the rest is history. Today they’re well into their production which features different people from different perspectives in our city with the ultimate goal of sharing community with community.

The Delicious life is Michelle’s project. It came from the challenge of balancing work life. She couldn’t figure it out and eventually she realized it was her approach, “life is about ratio, not balance. The right amount of the right ingredients, that’s how you make a delicious life”.

She does talks and shares her experience with audiences, “It’s when we feel off balance, this is when we need community and we need to manage that ratio”.

If you would like more information visit www.airdrieangel.ca and reach out to the Carres! Thanks for your readership, visit lowingmedia.com today to read archived Lowdown’s and stay tuned for new and exciting news! T